The face of the world has irrevocably changed, three generations after the end. The landscape is divided neatly between vast swathes of desolate waste and gigantic, ancient forests. Arable land that has not become completely overgrown is an incredible rarity in the world, and all of that has long since been claimed by the warlords or the sorcerer-kings. Many of the remaining cities have been built within the crumbling remains of those left from before the end, crowding along the coasts of rivers, lakes, and oceans. These are almost invariably held under sway by the ineffable whims of the Priesthood. Wherever one can gain a fleeting sense of security, one also must have to sacrifice liberty.

Magic seems to have not only returned to humankind. The forests are, perhaps, the most dangerous place in the world. Technology begins to inexplicably break down and malfunction, the further one strays from civilization, but there is nowhere worse than deep within the forests, where technology just doesn’t work at all. Even more primitive implements such as compasses can often lead one astray; the magic imbuing the place seems to disrupt natural as well as artificial magnetic fields. This may also contribute to some of the more subjective experiences, deep in the woods; spending too much time in the wilds can lead to dizziness, confusion, exhaustion, and anxiety. These effects seem to be particularly bad to those with natural magical talent of their own; not only does magic frequently misfire or go astray, but but it is more exhausting for the caster to carry through. Worse, it seems that many flora and fauna within the forests and jungles seem naturally attracted to magic, zeroing in on the errant caster, often ignoring their companions completely.

Very few animals still dwell within the forests, and those that do are monstrous. The plants themselves, it seems, have become the chief predators, preying both upon each other, and anything else that wanders too far in whether for folly or for food. Many have changed into things unrecognizable from what they may once have been, developing bulbous, tuberous, vining, sticking, and piercing structures to assist in their predations. Nearly every predatory plant can exhibit short bursts of incredible growth, draining storage organs and shrivelling pseudobulbs in order to achieve these wild grasps. Roots, stems, and even flowers are often covered in minute hairs, which sense something brushing against them, or even walking over the ground above, and stimulate the plant to strike. These hairs can also serve another purpose as well; many are packed full of potent crystallized toxins, causing skin that brushes against them to burn, scab, or even necrotize. Many pollens serve a double-duty as soporific agents, lulling the breathers into a narcotic sleep. Spines and mucilaginous glands along the leaves and stems further serve to deliver the plants’ predatory payloads to their unsuspecting victims. Once bound by rapidly-growing vines, disabled by poison or injury, or simply exhausted from fighting back cruel nature, the plants slowly grow over their victims. Adventitious roots pour out of any part of the plant and dive into the flesh, drawing out nutrients as they exude enzymes that breaks down the tissue. Even calcium is drawn out from the bones, eventually, leaving nothing as evidence after only a couple weeks.

People venturing into the forests, whether for adventure or for forage, often do not return. Rescue parties are a rare sight; usually once someone has been attacked, there is very little chance of survival. Nevertheless, the sight of a scarred, scabbed individual is not an uncommon one within the settlements nearest to the forests. Some are even permanently disfigured from their experiences in the wild. It is sheer folly to venture within the woods alone, so oftentimes a member of an adventuring group will take a misstep and be attacked by feral foliage, and for the rest of their lives bear the marks of the encounter. Yet the incredible bounty promised within the forests continues to draw the brave and the desperate; despite all of the deadliness, there is also an abundance of edible fruits, roots, and fungus. Many nomadic groups travel from forest to forest, foraging and scavenging within for items of subsistence and trade, as well as for the components of valuable medicines which they can produce. It is unreasonable, therefore, to make any sort of attempt to destroy the forests wholesale, despite the threat they present, because it is counterbalanced by their incredible fecundity of natural resources.

They say it is Shedra’s magic that keeps the beasts out of the rolling hills and valleys of Sanctuary, and brings the rains in spring. Sanctuary is, indeed, a strange place. It is more…vibrant than most, more full of life. Life in Sanctuary is peaceful, and her people have full bellies.

The Priestesses of Shedra

Those full bellies come at a price: total obedience to the priestesses of Shedra. Her robed priestesses roam the streets on inscrutable errands. They occasionally commandeer people and supplies. No reason is given, but rarely is a reason asked. That is the price.

Priestesses are chosen from among the populace of Sanctuary. Priestesses will simply show up at a family’s house when the girl reaches about twelve years of age, and take her away. She will be gone for years. Those priestesses who appear in public are always at least sixteen years old, and display the uniformly dispassionate personality of a priestess of Shedra.

Priestesses wear long, grey cloaks that hide black leather-and-cloth armor. Every priestess has a symbol tattooed on her forehead; more complex symbols indicate higher rank within the priesthood.

The Kingdom of Sanctuary

Sanctuary is made up of about two dozen towns and villages, nearly all of them farming communities cobbled together from old-world technology. This is amazing in itself; little of new earth’s soil is capable of farming. Strange, twisted things come from this earth, but it’s edible, and there’s a lot of it.

Tower, the Capital

The only non-farming town is Tower, a massive mining complex in the mountains and Shedra’s home. This is a dark place. Though it employs hundreds of people, the only ones who ever leave are Shedra’s priestesses. Here, Shedra performs powerful magic in the dark passages of the complex she carved from the living rock of the mountain. Moans and screams can sometimes be heard from within.

Who Is Shedra?

The truth: Shedra is a necromancer. She spends most of her time creating undead, for the gray area between life and death fascinates her. She has released so much life energy from her unfortunate test subjects that it has seeped into the lands around her, giving it the strangely powerful life her subjects depend on.

Shedra will undoubtedly become a lich someday. Perhaps she already is, and uses a glamour of beauty to hide her true self.

Shedra is not particularly concerned with the rest of the world, but is smart enough to understand the danger of external threats. Tomas, in particulary, worries her, as her magic does indeed protect against monsters and beasts, but not against sentient people. Tomas could lead an army into Sanctuary, and while he undoubtedly could not kill Shedra herself, he could destroy her lands and priestesses, cutting off Shedra’s supply of experimental subjects.

Hey, gang! Sorry for getting this out a day late this week. Unexpected holidays have a way of turning well-maintained schedules into discrete piles of goo. We’ve decided to maintain the D&DNext links on a wiki page instead of clogging the Weekly Assembly with heaps of speculation, though the MetaRoundup is overwhelmingly D&D Next-heavy. Enjoy this week’s links!

Seth Godin doesn’t identify as a gamer, but his blog post outlining the TED Imperatives gives anyone in the RPG community some guidelines for defusing edition war-like-arguments before they escalate to Holy War status. Many of us skip the first 2 steps: Be Interested and Be Generous.

MetaRoundup

A roundup of roundups featuring links of interest to the tabletop RPG community.Please let us know about other weekly roundups in the comments!

Ratfolk

"Ratty" by Peter Seckler (CC-BY-3.0)

Ratfolk are intelligent enough to use tools, but remain sufficiently feral that they can rarely be reasoned with.

Ratfolk usually attack any creatures that invade their territory (which is usually a sewer beneath a crumbling city). They love water, and live in half-submerged nests stuffed with scavenged food and belongings.

In combat, they prefer to swarm enemies.

Ratfolk Warrior Level 1

D&D/Gamma
World 4E

Savage
Worlds

FATE

Apoc.
World

Strength

13 (+1)

d6

+0

0

Weird

Dexterity/Agility

17 (+3)

d8

+1

1

Hard

Constitution/Vigor

13 (+1)

d6

+0

0

Cool

Intelligence/Spirit

10 (+0)

d6

+0

0

Sharp

Wisdom/Smarts/Will

10 (+0)

d6

+0

0

Hot

Charisma/Per

10 (+0)

d6

+0

Speed/Pace

6

6

Initiative

+3

HP/Toughness/Health

24 [12]

6

5

AC/Parry

15

5

+1

1

♣ Spear (at-will) Attack
…damage

+6 vs. AC
1d10+3

d6+3

+1

3

♥ Perception/Observation

+5

d8

+1

D&D/Gamma World

Fortitude 13 Reflex 14 Will 13

FATE Aspects

Life in the Sewers (1)

Lizzies

"Lizmyst" by Peter Seckler (CC-BY-3.0)

People exposed to strange energies mutate into these small, savage, lizard-like humanoids with limited intelligence.

Lizzies are smarter than, say, ratfolk and have their own primitive societies. Clans of ten to fifty lizzies are usually led by a shaman who performs bloody rites and leads the clan on raids for sacrifices and slaves.

That is the other problem with lizzies: they love collecting slaves, who do much of the heavy lifting in lizzie societies before being sacrificed to their inscrutable gods.

In combat, lizzies prefer to stay at range, using their slings to great effect. The clan’s shaman will also attempt great feats of magic.

Lizzie Scout Level 3

D&D/Gamma
World 4E

Savage
Worlds

FATE

Apoc.
World

Strength

13 (+1)

d6

+0

1

Weird

Dexterity/Agility

17 (+3)

d8

+1

1

Hard

Constitution/Vigor

13 (+1)

d6

+0

0

Cool

Intelligence/Spirit

10 (+0)

d6

+0

0

Sharp

Wisdom/Smarts/Will

10 (+0)

d6

+0

0

Hot

Charisma/Per

10 (+0)

d6

+0

Speed/Pace

6

6

Initiative

+3

HP/Toughness/Health

24 [12]

6

5

AC/Parry

15

5

+1

1

♣ Dagger (at-will) Attack
…damage

+6 vs. AC
1d10+3

d6+3

+1

3

♣ Sling (at-will) Attack
…damage

R15, +8 vs. AC
1d8+4

R12/24/48
2d6

+1

3

♥ Perception/Observation

+5

d8

+1

D&D/Gamma World

Fortitude 13 Reflex 14 Will 13

FATE Aspects

Feral Cunning (1)

Lizzie Shaman Level 5

D&D/Gamma
World 4E

Savage
Worlds

FATE

Apoc.
World

Strength

10 (+0)

d6

+0

1

Weird

Dexterity/Agility

12 (+1)

d6

+0

0

Hard

Constitution/Vigor

8 (-1)

d6-1

-1

1

Cool

Intelligence/Spirit

11 (+0)

d6

+0

0

Sharp

Wisdom/Smarts/Will

19 (+4)

d10

+2

0

Hot

Charisma/Per

15 (+2)

d8

+1

Speed/Pace

4

3

Initiative

+5

HP/Toughness/Health

70 [35]

8

8

AC/Parry

17

4

+2

1

♣ Staff (at-will) Attk
…damage

Reach 2, +10 vs. AC
2d6+6 phys. & stunned

d8+3

+2

4

♣ Crystal Blast (enc.)
…damage

Close burst 2, +10 vs. Ref
3d8+4 physical

R12/24
2d6+2

6

♥ Perception/ Observation

+4

d6

+0

D&D/Gamma World

Fortitude 16 Reflex 16 Will 18
Regenerate 5

FATE Aspects

Magical Energy Field (1)
Special Ability: Crystal Energy Blast: Targets up to 3 creatures; +3 on the attack. Usable once per fight.

Arachnoid

'Skutt' by Peter Seckler (CC-BY-3.0)

These mutated creatures are actually quite sentient, and are slowly building their own subterranean kingdom. They occasionally burst to the surface, attacking human outposts for food and slaves (which may be the same thing).

Though sentient, they are not particularly intelligent, relying on brute force tactics and numbers. Tales are told of a telepathic device that allows the arachnoids to mold slaves into mindless fighters.

Trill, the Carnivorous Plants

Trill are dangerous because of their stealth. They lay out their tentacles–each dozens of yards long–along the forest floor, where they appear to be normal roots. When a meal approaches, the tentacles grip the trill’s prey and, secreting a dulling poison, pulls the struggling creature towards the trill’s sticky mouths.

3 Generations After The End (3GATE) is designed to be a primarily human-centric setting. That’s great in a lot of ways. Humans are the dominant race in most RPG settings, and are certainly the stars of most modern media. It’s easy for us to relate on a common level with them, as well as imagining them competing in a fantastic world.

However, many systems also support the idea of multiple player races and 3GATE is easily expanded to include those.

After humans, the Beastmen are the most prominent race. Created by the early wizards after the great apocalypse, the beastmen are powerful men and women infused with bestiality of nature. Some are still under the control of wizards but many still escaped to the wilderness, forming their own tribes. Many races are naturally suited for beastmen as they already represent creatures who are part man, part animal. Minotaurs, lizardfolk, shifters, and thri-keen are all excellent choices. If you want to get creative, take a good look at the mechanics for the race and re-skin for different animals as needed. Gnolls are an excellent template race when playing D&D 4E. They get bonuses for hunting in groups, and their feats allow them to become excellent trackers or gain a natural claw weapon. These traits could be used to represent any number of animals in the world.

Beastmen are also naturally suited to working in a mixed party. Some are already allied with the wizards, while others have a natural reason to oppose them, so humans from either area could find reasons to work with them. They’re less naturally suited to the cities of the techno-priests, but in fantasy your characters are already exceptional. They could be converts, prisoners working toward release, or maybe they were an experiment left behind and freed by the priests.

Hayden Panettiere is a Cyborg by J (mtonic.com) on Flickr

Depending on the level of artifact technology you want to play with, the techno-priests offer another great race idea, that of the robot, cyborg, or android. The warforged of D&D, the gearforged of Midgard, and the giant robot of Big Eyes, Small Mouth are all great mechanics to use for these races. You could be a new creation, an experiment of the techno-priests and the ultimate representation of man’s worship of technology. Perhaps you were found and only recently reactivated. Many high tech labs would be outside of the city and in secret locations, leaving you to ally with the first willing humanoids you can find. You may even have been around since the apocalypse, remembering the old world. Talk to your GM about this option first. Many things from the past may need to be a secret to allow proper exploration and discovery. Maybe your character was a simple worker drone before, and never learned of life outside a three block radius, or it could be that years of poor maintenance have ruined your memory, giving you glimpses of the past in short, confusing bursts, making you a modern oracle.

Finally there are the deepest areas of the wild, where technology ceases to function, and the beastmen roam with unforgiving savagery. Few dare to tread here, and even fewer return to speak its tales. Since magic returned with the apocalypse, the secrets held here could be the source of the most fantastic racial options. Perhaps technology doesn’t function here because of magic’s rich veins. Fey lines could emanate from these zones, and perhaps their hearts are portals to other planes. One might stumble into cities of humanity’s mythic past: the mines of dwarves and gnomes, tree-top elven villages, or roaming tribes of goblins and giants. Like humans, members of these races may feel compelled to brave the unknown and explore the wastes outside their hidden sanctuaries. What happens when they leave, though? Does their magic change? Do they themselves become warped by the apocalypse? What grand creations might come into being if dwarven master craftsman were to work with the techno-priests?

Whatever you decide, use it to build the lore of your world, and have a grand adventure.

When predators rise in the food chain and eventually hit the top, it is seldom that they remain in that place unchallenged. Given enough time, other predators will realize their potential and evolve into a threat to the complacent. The wizards of the World Reborn quickly asserted themselves as the dominant species across the devastated lands, but in many places across the lands there was no room for shared power; wizard fell upon wizard in desperate struggles to be the strongest among them. It is often when these wizards hunt alone that they fall victim to another predator, one that hunts them specifically.

Little is publically known about the Wolves of Thanatos, other than they seem to specifically target wizards throughout the wastelands. The few facts people have scraped together range from amazing to horrifying. Wizards have suddenly vanished in the night, even from their own lairs. The vast majority is never seen again, and looters who descend on the riches of the missing wizards say that, despite clear signs of a struggle having occurred, their libraries and artifacts are frequently intact. Their numbers aren’t known, nor has a base of operation been identified. The greatest question, though, is how they’re able to take down such immensely powerful beings where many have failed.

On only a few recorded occasions has a wizard returned from going missing, and in every case they’re found crucified to the gates of a city, butchered like a swine and with a look of unending terror on their faces. The reports from autopsies that are performed on the remains become locked away by the Techno-Priests and those who ask questions are either rebuked or jailed. Information among the common folk is little more than scary stories and rumors.

Those in the inner circles of the Techno-Priests, though, know much more about the Wolves than they’re letting on. The bulk of what is known has been chronicled by a Jocelyn Albrecht, a young Techno-Priest in training at the Grey City in The Valley. Thanks to her efforts, we now know that the Wolves of Thanatos are a band of fierce hunters who prey specifically on wizards. She also learned that they seem to have no political aspirations outside their own internal dealings, and their entire society is centered on the hunt itself. But, most significantly, she was the first to discover one of the secret hunting techniques of the Wolves: the ability to dampen magic.

The actual method they use to produce the mysterious liquid is guarded even fiercer than the knowledge of its existence, but the effects are now known through observation. The effects when introduced environmentally are profound: low concentrations of the liquid in the area and soil causes magic in the area to become significantly dampened. Successfully cast spells are weaker, and some fizzle before they can even manifest. Stronger concentrations intensified the effects. Robbed of their potent offensive and defensive abilities, wizards fall as if they were mere lambs.

Most intriguing was when the Wolves seemed to begin experimenting in the Assassin’s arts. In one situation observed by a spy planted in a wizard’s home, the wizard was drinking from a cup of tea when he suddenly choked and fell to the floor, shaking before going unconscious. The wizard recovered several minutes later… and his connection to the ley lines had been completely severed. He could no longer summon a light, let alone summon a creature or a lightning bolt. The spy recovered some of the tea, which tested positive for the dampening poison. We don’t know if the effect was permanent, though; the Wolves raided the lair hours later and the spy barely escaped with his life.

Combining the effects of their dampening poisons and brutal combat techniques with tactics that border on terrorism, the Wolves of Thanatos ride a thin line between being praised as saviors of the populace from the wizards and deeply feared for their horrific and extreme methods. Many wonder what will happen if all of a region’s wizards are slain, driven into hiding or move on to less hostile lands. Will the Wolves move on, or will they remain and look for new prey? Without knowing who they are or what their true purpose is, speculation runs rampant.

Tune in for the follow-up article later this month, as we dive deeper into the Wolves and learn about them from the inside.